Additional resources for CS405 in 2008

This year's module was more narrowly focused than in previous years. In that respect, it was more consistent with the title "An Introduction to Empirical Modelling". Whilst this should make it easier to prepare for the examination, it may also mean that you have been given less background in the lectures for your paper writing and model building for WEB-EM-04. Here are some links to resources that may be helpful in supporting your EM work and exam revision. You are not required to be familiar with this material, but it may be of interest as a source of ideas and technical insights.

• Web-EDEN: Richard Myers's web-based EDEN prototype can be accessed from anywhere at weden.co.uk and from departmental machines (e.g. via a VNC session on joshua) at http://137.205.115.77/17000. Though the system still has some limitations (e.g. it doesn't provide means to list donald definitions, doesn't allow include()statements, doesn't support queries in scout, or implement the angel notation), it offers other advantages. In particular, it features syntax highlighting, separates the command history from the error output, and provides much more intelligible access to eden definitions. It also offers support for session sharing and should be a good medium for lightweight tutorial and testing purposes. For instance, it's quite well-suited to checking out the answers to Lab 2, as posted on the CS405 website under Seminar 3. (Any feedback in the form of suggestions and error reports on Web-EDEN will be most welcome.)

• EM models: Fewer complex EM models were discussed this year than usual. In part this is because demonstrating complex models effectively requires considerable preparatory work, and may involve re-engineering in the light of developments in the tools (such as the loss of the older Solaris variants of EDEN). Here are some links to models - and model documentation in the form of posters and presentations - that have been discussed in previous years:
  • a showcase of models demonstrated in CS405 in 2005-6
  • a showcase of models and posters demonstrated at an EU event in July 2005: kaleidoscopeBeynon2005
  • models relating to educational themes:
    • interactive geometry: cogRoe1999
    • illustrating "cognitive layering": racingGardner1999
    • the SQL-EDDI environment as introduced in the presentation at sqleddiWard2003/Presentation
    • educational software for elementary mathematics: fractionsCronick2003
  • models relating to decision-support for business:
    • a model for timetabling third-year project orals: projecttimetableKeen2000
    • re-engineering a system to support elevator design: sisyphusNess1996
    • models for restaurant management: restaurantRoe2000 and restaurantHutchings2005
    • simulation of warehouse activity: warehouseChen2001
    • a visualisation tool based on the work of Bob Spence: attributeexplorerRoe2000
  Some of these relate quite closely to themes proposed for WEB-EM-04.

• The EM presentation environment Antony Harfield's EM presentation environment can be found at empeHarfield2007. The model graphicspresHarfield2007 illustrates how it can be used.

• Additional labs: In previous years, there have been lab sessions on more advanced technical topics. These include:
  • Building a version of the DMT in EDEN: CS405 2006-7 Lab 5 : Graphical Representation of Dependencies;
  • Using the agent-oriented parser: CS405 2006-7 Lab 6: Notations and Parsing;
  • Using dtkeden, the distributed variant of EDEN: CS405 2006-7 Lab 7: Distributed Modelling with dtkeden.

• References: Key sections of several papers have been cited in the module. The following links may be useful if you wish to explore these papers further (though their content is not otherwise necessarily as topical for CS405):
  • Michael Jackson What Can We Expect From Program Verification? IEEE Computer, Volume 39 Number 10, pages 53-59, October 2006.
  • David Harel On Visual Formalisms Communications of the ACM, Vol. 31(5), May 1988, 514-530
  • Frederick P Brooks No Silver Bullet -- Essence and Accident in Software Engineering IEEE Computer 1987
  • Jürgen Lind Issues in Agent-Oriented Software Engineering Agent-oriented Software Engineering, LNCS Volume 1957/2001, 93-98
  • John McCarthy Ascribing Mental Qualities To Machines in Logic-based Artificial Intelligence (ed.John Minker) Kluwer International Series In Engineering And Computer Science; Vol. 597, 2000, 37-56